There are known in the prior art bill acceptors which are adapted to receive paper currency to test the same for genuineness to put out an electrical signal indicating that a genuine bill has been received and, for example, to dispense change. One such acceptor is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,496, issued on Sept. 11, 1984. Systems of the type described are provided with some means for stacking bills which are accepted. One such bill stacking mechanism is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,260 issued Nov. 4, 1975.
While bill accepting systems of the type described hereinabove effectively achieve their intended purpose of testing bills for genuineness and of stacking acceptable bills in locations at which space is not a consideration, they are relatively bulky and cumbersome for the result achieved thereby. Attempts have been made to provide bill accepting and stacking mechanisms which are more compact than are those described hereinabove by a modified combination of the '496 acceptor with the '260 stacker. The bill stacker shown in the '260 patent includes as a part thereof a ram which drives a bill delivered to the space between the ram and the bill storage area into the storage area. In combining the acceptor of the '496 patent with the stacker of the '260 patent to form a compact bill acceptor, there was employed a ram guide mechanism positioned outwardly of the sides of the bill storage area. It was thus not possible to unload the acceptor from a side so that the possible locations for installation were limited. For example, bill acceptors are now incorporated in many merchandising machines owing to the greater cost of individual items being sold as well as the wide variety of articles dispensed by such machines. The space available at the position in such machines at which a bill acceptor must be installed is at a premium.